ACI 8 «Смерть и сферы существования», занятие 3

Class Three: The Lives of Craving Spirits and Animals
March 11, 1996




Ah, [Tem] means Teachings, [Rim] means steps and [Chenmo] means [b:The
Great Book on the Steps of the Teachings]. We're gonna study about [Yddaks]
from this book and also later in the class we're going to do [Dumdrums] which
are animals. Okay? So we're gonna do, we're gonna cover those two realms
based on this book [b:Tem Rim Chenmo]. [b:Tem Rim Chenmo] was written by
{Geshe Drolumba}. Say {Geshe} [repeat], {Drolumba} [repeat], {Geshe} [repeat],
{Drolumba} [repeat]. If you're new, I notice a lot of new people tonight, you
don't have to learn Tibetan, just the English track, but I just want you to get a
seed in your mind for Tibetan, and then someday you will learn it. I think about
a quarter of the people in the Tibetan Class thought they were going to take the
English Track. They ended up learning Tibetan so some day you probably will.
{Geshe} means "spiritual friend." And, ah, in the early days of Tibetan Buddhism,
it was really that, it was just your individual spiritual guide. Much later in Tibet it
came to mean, it was a kind of degree given by monasteries. But early in the
history of Buddhism, even in the Sanskrit it's called {Kayandeja} which means
that "spiritual guide," "spiritual friend." {Drolumba} {Drolum} is a place like
Kansas. {Drolumba} means like the guy from Kansas, so there was this Geshe
from {Drolum}, and his name was {Geshe Drolumba}. He lived, we don't know
his dates, we know the exact dates of his teacher, we know the exact dates of his
students, and we guess that he lived around eleven hundred A.D. This book is is
a thousand pages long. The Geshes of those days, who are called {Kadampas},
they didn't write any books, really. They wrote very very little, they were
mostly meditators, they were the first Buddhists in Tibet, ah, of our, of our
tradition, so I like to whenever we can it's good to study something that they
wrote but they didn't write much, they wrote mostly these two or three page
things. Geshe Droluba, he wrote an in ... a huge presentation of all the steps of
the Buddha's teachings all the way from the beginning to the end. He wrote this
huge text called {Tem Rim Chenmo}. Even in the days of {Tsongkapa} it was
pretty rare. When did {Tsongkapa} live?
[Student: Eighteen fifty seven to [unclear]]
Ah, okay. [laughter] He's called {Je Tsongkapa}. And he lived ... [writing on
board] {Je Tsongkapa} is generally considered the greatest master ever to be
produced in Tibet. He wrote ten thousand pages of commentaries. If you ever
try to read one of them you'll be lucky if you make it through the whole thing in
a few years. Seriously. And he wrote ten thousand pages of these things. They
say he was just a ... taking dictation from {Manjusri.} And and you believe it if
you learn Tibetan and try to read his works. You believe it because they're just
incredibly deep, packed, difficult to read, incredible, and you can't believe a
human being could write them. {Je Tsongkapa's} probably the most, the greatest
master ever produced out of Tibet, except for our root lama, but ah, [laughter]
and ah, bad joke, but he wrote a book called the [b:Lam Rim Chenmo] which is
[b: the Great Book on the Steps of the Path], ah, anything look similar? [laughs]
I mean, basically he's just taking {Geshe Drolumba's} book and , you know,
which is good writing in Tibet because basically the lama in front of you was
probably, his lama his lama [unclear - one word ] was omniscient, they knew
everything, so you don't have to write a new book you can just rearrange the
books from before and you're a great Buddhist author that's okay. The same
with painting. You don't change the Buddha's face, you don't change his look it's
not considered a virtue in spiritual things to change them, it's a virtue to take the
same elements and present them to your culture in a certain way but you never
change them. So basically, we've come to think {Je Tsongkapa,} we we know
that he bumped into this book ah six years before he wrote the {Lam Rim
Chenmo}, it's interesting, so he basically took that book and rearranged it and,
and it ah, this is the greatest book ever written in Tibetan and probably no one
will be able to write anything greater now, Tibetan language is degenerating it's
it's ah being lost in the world, the Tibetans in Tibet who who are still living there
can hardly speak Tibetan any more and the Tibetans in India don't speak Tibetan
very well and can't read very well. Um. And the Tibetans in China can't read
Tibetan at all but when they come to the monastery in India they have to relearn
how to read. So probably I think this will be the, this will be the great, the
masterwork of Tibetan literature. So, I think it's, I think it's really great to study
this book. This book was lost for a long time. His Holiness found one copy in
Siberia about fifteen years ago and it's a very bad copy, you couldn't read it very
well. And then we located one about five years ago so now we have a beautiful
copy. So I think it's cool that you get to read it. So, we took the reading from
this book. And it's been put on [unclear, one word] CD ROM and is going to be
given away all over the world. So I think it's cool that you get to read from the
{Tam Rim Chenmo} so you're reading this from this {Tam Rim Chenmo} which
{Je Tsonkapa} used to write the greatest book ever written in Tibetan. So you're
very honored to be the first people to read from this. And Geshe Drolumba
gives a very good presentation of {Yddaks?} He says there are four main causes
for {Yddaks}. One general cause, and three specific causes. I'll give you the
general cause first.
[Student: unclear]
Yeah, and I'll talk about it. [writing on board] If you want to be born as a
{Yddak} do the ten bad deeds to medium strength, okay? What does medium
strength mean? I mean, this is just a general, what are the ten bad deeds, I mean,
first of all? [unclear] stealing, three with your body, stealing, sexual misconduct
[students reciting answers in background] sexual misconduct may be adultery
but it could be other kinds of, kinds of, there's a long list of sexual misconduct,
and four kinds of [unclear] speech which are, lying, slander, slander means talk
that splits other people up, we don't have a good word in English [unclear],
divisive speech, and then [students: harsh words] harsh words, harsh words can
be sweet words said in a bad way, right? or with bad intentions, they hurt
somebody. And then, the fourth one of speech? [students: idle talk] Idle talk,
just wasting time talking. So that's, so far you've got seven. And then there's
three in your mind, three that you do in your mind which are what? [students:
coveting] Coveting which is basically an ignorant, you know, you basically want
things that other people have you're jealous of them and you're trying to get the
things that other people have. Number nine? [students; malice] [unclear] called
malice or ill-will. It means being happy when other people screw up, basically.
And, ah, last one? [students: wrong views] Wrong views, ah, mainly there's no
future life, there's no such thing as karma, I mean, if I if no one sees me do
something there will be no effects, you know, if I if I do something bad in the
privacy of my own room and no one [unclear - ever saw it?] there won't be any
bad effects from that. Those are the basic ten, the ten bad deeds. Those are an
abbreviation of how many? [student: eight three four thousand (several talking
simultaneously) Eighty four thousand [laughter]. I mean, the Buddha said, I
mean the [b:Abhidharma] says, ah, okay its eighty four thousand bad deeds
then, ah, luckily you can group them into ten so that human beings can
remember them at least. But, that many. We can do them to medium, medium
strength means like very light strength would be if you do it if you for example
you broke minor vows over and over again, it's something like that. Heavy
strength would be if you premeditated, intentional, took a long time to prepare
the weapon, in a great state of hatred over a long period of time and then went
and killed somebody. And that person wasn't, was some kind of maybe holy
person, you know, like the Dalai Lama or something. That would be a heavy
one. Medium means somewhere between there. Okay? So medium strength is
like that. To do those ten bad deeds in medium strength is the general cause to
be born as a {praeta}. That's a, just a whole general cause. Then there are like
three very specific attitudes that can get you born as a {praeta}. [writing on
board] You don't have to know the Tibetan, I'm just trying to plant it, okay? Say
{Jimba} [repeat] {labsum} [repeat] {Lajimba} [repeat] {Jimba} [repeat] {labsum}
[repeat] {Lajimba} [repeat]. {Jimba} what's {jimba} mean? [students: Jimmy?]
[laughs] Yeah, that's his name. Giving, okay? {Jimba} is the first {paramita}, for
example. Giving. The act of giving, {jimba}. {Nabsum} means, it's the same as
{nab a nabsum} what's that? [voices - unclear] Yeah, it means the three types.
The three, three types.          {Majimba} means [Students: not giving} "not
giving." [writing on board] So there it, the first cause to be born as a {praeta} is
failing to give the three types of giving. Failing to give the three types of giving.
What are the three types of giving? The [b:Tem Rim Chenmo] doesn't say but
you can look it up in other books. And they are, [writing on board] say {sam
sing gi} [repeat] {jimba} [repeat] {sam sing gi} [repeat] {jimba} [repeat]. {sam sing
gi} means, ah, material wealth, you know, like houses, beds, food, drink, things
like that, material stuff, physical things. The things that people need to live.
{jimba} means the giving of those things. So the first kind of giving, and in fact,
uh, the lowest kind of giving is is to give people shelter food bed, things like that.
That's called {sam sing gi jimba}. The second kind is, [writing on board] say
{ming jipa} [repeat] {jimba} [repeat] {ming jipa} [repeat] {jimba} [repeat]. Okay.
Who's {Jigjay}? {Yamantaka}. {Bahirava} okay?. But it means the fierce, the
frightener. The frightener. So {ming jipa} means, {ming} (ming jipa} means
what? {ming} Not [student: not to be frightened] Not to be frightened so {ming
jipa} means not to be frightened. {jimba} means giving. "the giving of not to be
frightened." [Student: protection] What's it mean? [laughs] It means protection.
Okay? So [b:Lam Rim Chenmo] says protecting people from muggers, wars,
other threats to their lives, that {unclear} b: The Liberation in the Palm of our
Hands, by Pabonka Rinpoche says don't think that you have to be in the UN to
give {ming jipa jimba}. It doesn't say UN, okay? But it it says ah you can give
{ming jipa jimba} to a flea that's walking across your arm. You know, if you if
you just pick it up carefully and put it on the side instead of smashing it, you just
made the gift of {ming jipa}. You just you just gave the gift of of protecting
somebody from harm, from fear. Okay? So {ming jipa jimba} is basically
protecting people from from dangerous things things that harm them. That's
the second kind of giving. The third kind of giving. [writing on board] Say {chu
ke} [repeat] {jimba} [repeat] {chu ke} [repeat] {jimba} [repeat] What's {chu}?
[students: dharma] Dharma. Okay? {Chu} is Dharma. Here meaning "dharma
teachings." Okay. Dharma. Teachings. And {jimba} is giving. {chu ke jimba
(said to himself)} That's, ah, the gift of the dharma, teaching someone dharma.
That's the highest kind of teaching. Highest kind of giving, um, because - let's
say all this stuff that I'm saying today is true. Let's say that I can convince you
what would make you be born as a {praeta}, in, in your next life, which could be
ten minutes from now. You know. Let's say that somehow I can convince you
that such a thing is possible and let's say that somehow I can show you what
causes it and you avoid that and it saves you from being born as a as a {yddak},
as a {praeta}. Then that would be, that'd be a lot more important than these
kinds of giving, that would be some kind of incredible kind of thing, so, you
know, assuming that what we're going to say tonight is true, assuming it sinks in
to you then it could protect you, even tonight, from not being born as a {praeta},
if you get hit by a car on the way home, okay? So that's the highest kind of
giving. So the first cause of being born as a {praeta} is to fail to give these three
kinds of, if someone needs them, you have to give them. Okay. You have to
try. And there's a lot of ah, there's a lot of things to say about that, there's grey
areas you know. Do you give a, a guy in the subway a dollar if he asks for it, for
alcohol or something. We're not talking about that, we're talking about cases
where mainly you know that it's right to give the thing, a person needs it very
much, you have it, and maybe you even have it in excess, and, and you just don't
give it because you're lazy or you're angry or you ignore the person or you
don't care about the person, or something like that. Or worst of all, you have
some kind of possessiveness about the thing. You don't want to see the things
that you own get less, you want to protect what you own. And that's, that's a,
that kind of possessiveness is the main cause of being born as a, as a {praeta}.
Did you have a question? [Student: Is there a reason why giving protection is a
higher type of giving than giving material things?] I, I, you know, that's why I
hesitated when I said this is the lowest, because I, I don't remember any
particular order between these two. I know that this one is higher, but I, I'm not
sure if there's any, I, I'm not sure that number two is [unclear - coughing - a
higher level?] Yeah. [student; When it comes to the animal cause, is it any of the
ten things . . . ] Yeah, down to a medium extent. We'll talk about it. [ Student:
There are there are four causes, the first cause is general and ] yeah. Then there's
three specific ones. [Student: Yeah, three specific ones within?] Naw, not within.
This is only one general one. Okay? [student; okay] And now this is the first of
the specific ones, I got two more to give to you. [student: okay] Okay. I got
two more to give you. [students; unclear so then why is the specific one, so that
is number two, right?] Yeah, or the first of the specifics. All right? Now I'm
going to give you number two specific cause, all right? There you go. [Writing
on board] Number, the second specific cause is called {Serna} say {Serna}
[repeat] {Serna} [repeat] I don't know a good nice word in in English, but it
means being a cheapskate. It means being cheap. It's a very specific for a
tightwad. Okay. Somebody who doesn't like to, somebody who's, you know,
hangs onto what they own, doesn't want to share it with anybody. [Student:
miserliness] You could say miserliness. You know. I don't know, cheapness is
too colloquial and miserliness is too literary. And I don't know anything
between. [Student - stingy] Stingy's pretty good. You know, stinginess, {serna}
is stinginess. That's the classic cause that that that they often talk about in books,
this {serna}. Okay. Again it's some kind of possessiveness, it's not wanting to see
what you own get less. It's it's this misconception that protecting your wealth is
the best way to keep it. [Writing on board] Say {trambo} [repeat] { trambo }
[repeat] {Trambo} means jealousy. Okay.
  Jealousy. It's a very sick attitude for a dharma person to have you know you're
supposed to be a bodhisattva, your whole life is supposed to be aimed at seeing
that other people get what they want and other people are happy, and {trambo}
when it looks like someone else's happiness, wishes that they didn't have it. It's a
very sick state of mind. I have it, a lot. So I understand it. [Laughs] But it's, you
know, you're supposed to be on the lookout for all sentient beings. And then if
somebody gets a little thing, like a promotion at work, or a little more money, or
has more dharma students than you, or something like that you feel this
{trackwa}. You know, you you feel bad about that, you wish they didn't have
that. It's like the complete opposite of the whole Buddhist philosophy. And
that's that we have it over all this, every little thing, we have {trackwa} all the
time. [Student: So you wish that they don't have it like] Yeah, not wanting to
possess it yourself, necessarily, it's just this, it's being irritated at other people
having success, and wealth, and the good things that they want and and not
enjoying that but the opposite being, being some kind of hatred about it. It's a
it's a weird state of mind, a very sick state of mind. {Trackwa}. And those are
the three main causes, specific causes, of being born as a {praeta}. I think here
we have to talk about what's the process, I mean, it's it's almost like voodoo to
say, hey, if you're jealous you're going to end up as this spirit being that you
can't see anyway. You know. I mean it's very hard for Westerners and I think
it's good that it's hard. You know. It's hard for us to see the connection between
being, you know, failing to give something because we feel possessive, and in,
after we die, being born into this spirit being, that we've never seen, no one's
ever proven it, there's no pictures or videos of them, and and so I'm supposed to
believe this guy standing up there that if I if I'm jealous of somebody at work
and after I die I'm going to be born as this thing, it sounds like the thing I the
religion I grew up with that I rejected, you know, that's threatening you with
something that that there there's this guy up in Heaven who's going to punish
you and and it sounds like the same spiel, I think. So I think you have to talk
about how could that happen? You know, is there any logical way to show that
that could happen? I think, at this point, if you if you're talking about {ydaks},
you have to study you have to think about the four principles of karma, so I'm
going to give you the four principles of karma. If you were in the karma course
you already know them perfectly. But I'll give you the four, okay? [Writing on
board]. Say {Leng niepa} [repeat] {Leng niepa} [repeat] Okay then. It's the first
principle of karma. But but first of all I'll ask you, and we went through this a
little bit on Friday I think but what's the most basic kind of karma? What is the
essence of karma? [Student: The movement of the mind?] Yeah. He said, "The
movement of the mind." [b:Abhidharmakosha], fourth chapter, opening lines
{Recites: Ay lay de ki she na pa . . . unintelligeable . . . kye} which means "If you
want to know where the universe came from and all the planets in it it's from
karma." What is karma? It's any time your mind twitches. Any time your mind
goes from here to here, it's karma. That is the essence of karma. That's what
karma really is. Action or deeds or karma it's any time your mind just shifts,
that's a karma, you just just did a karma. Okay? And what you say, and what
you do with your body are secondary. You know, first you think of something
and then you open your mouth to say something, and then you move your
arms and legs to do something good or bad. But but the essence of karma is is
when the mind just shifts a little bit. How many times does the mind shift in the
length of a finger snap? [Snaps fingers] {Semo kopa, semo kopa} in Tibetan.
[Snaps fingers] Sixty-four times in that amount of time. Your mind is is
lightening fast. [Snaps fingers] Your mind is going through sixty-four {sembas}
[snaps fingers], sixty-four twitches, [snaps fingers] in that amount of time. That's
called {jajoki ju jemba} [snaps fingers]. There are sixty-four of them going on.
Yeah? [Student: Does that correspond to [unclear]] I don't know. I mean if
[unclear - Sam?] were here he'd tell us. [Laughs] But I think, I think probably like
that many electrons moving a certain distance probably. Electrons are pretty
fast [unclear], right? And it and maybe it does I think, but basically you can
think in terms of like [unclear] sixty-four karmas in that much time. That's the
essence of karma. Where does karma stay, until you get the results? We had a
long course about it but basically those movements of the mind are making
impressions on your mind they're making imprints on your mind. And they
stay with you, the imprint is made, and they stay with you. A lot has to do with
your intentions and a lot has to do with how you perceive the event. In other
words, when you perceive yourself doing something good or bad it makes an
impression in your mind. And that, that is impressed in your mindstream. The
mind does go on in a stream and certain things impress the mind. If the content
of the impression was good you will always have a good result. If the content of
the impression was bad, you will always have a bad result. There's never any
cross like that. It's always good makes good and bad makes bad. And that's the
first principle of karma. [writing on board] But the content is fixed. The content
is fixed. What does that mean? It means if you hurt somebody, you'll get a bad
result. If you help somebody, you'll get a good result. Absolutely fixed. It never
goes any other way. It never goes like do something good, get something bad,
do something bad, get something good - it's impossible. So what happens ah,
{jimba}? I make work, I work in the diamond business. I lie to some guy about
what I can really pay. I can pay a hundred, I tell him ninety is all I can pay. And
he, because of my skillful lie, which is what the diamond business is sometimes
about, he gives it to me for a hundred, for ninety, so I made ten dollars. Is the
ten dollars a good thing? Yeah, I mean, getting ten dollars more than you had
before, for most people, is a pleasant experience. That's the definition of the
result of good karma. The definition of the result of good karma is getting
something that you like. That's the definition of good karma. Any deed, which
has a karmic result, gives you something you like, that's good karma. So so I got
a result of a good karma, right? But it came from lying. Right? [Student: yeah]
It did? [Student: Oh no!] [laughter] [Student: He did good deed, in his past life.]
Yeah, I mean, or or in the past sometime, it could be in this life could be in the
past life. I mean the ten dollars, trust me, didn't come from the lie. It's
impossible. If if if the ten dollars came from the lie, then the Buddha was lying
[with laughter in his voice ] when he gave this first principle of karma. It can't.
Lying to somebody is a bad deed], it hurts people. Getting ten dollars is a nice
result. they're not connected. They're just not connected. And therein lies the
suffering of mankind. You know. We think that to get nice things we should do
something like lie. And it's just not true. It's a big lie. It's a big coincidence that
we get the ten dollars right after we lie. That's not where the ten dollars came
from. It's absolutely not. The ten dollars came from being generous to someone
in the past. And the lie is going to create a bad result. You know, in the future,
you'll tell the truth and people won't believe you. Why? Why is it that some
people tell the truth and no one believes them, then, and then sometimes
politicians get up and lie their heads off and everybody's like impressed and
votes for them? Why? [Laughter] You know, why? Why is that? Ah, it's a past
karma. The result of past karma. But, and you have to see it like that, it's very
interesting, here's the lie, and it's going to create a, a bad result, [unclear] like
that, right? [Laughter] And here's the money that you got, [unclear] and that's
caused by being generous over here. And then because these two things seem
to happen in the same time frame, you think they're connected, but they're not.
Okay. You do not get money from lying. Cannot. Never will. That's the first
principle of karma. It's it's sometimes there's a coincidence and it looks like that.
I mean, if all mankind understood this, there'd be no cheating, every body'd be
honest to each other, everybody'd be totally honest, everybody would be
happy, everybody would be getting lots of money all the time, but the total
economic level of the planet would be very high, I mean, it's its not necessary
that some people have to be poor and some people have to be rich. Everybody
could be rich. It's, there's just the problem of not recognizing how this works.
You know. That's {leng niepa}. Did you have a question? [Student: With, um,
with regards to your illustration, if the person expected you to lie, is it [unclear]
in the scales . . . ] That's a different thing, I mean, if it's part of that culture,
[Student: yeah.] I mean, in in negotiation, I think the it's a very very I mean,
lying means giving the other person a mis, a a misconception, creating a
misconception in the other person's mind. Most of the time in the diamond
business, the guy doesn't believe you anyway.                [Laughter]    That's my
impression, but but generally just it'd be pleasant if everyone just told the truth
you know we wouldn't have to worry about lying [unclear ("that much?")].
    [Student: Sometimes people's motivation well           [unclear} and it turns out
[unclear]] The main thing is intentions. Intention is ninety percent of the karmic
result. I mean we don't have time tonight for a class in karma, but we did it for
six or eight weeks before. You can get the page from Don Stillmore [laughs].
Okay. Second principle of karma. [writing on board] By the way, it's a very nice
life, way to live your life, think about what that little drawing of the two the
happy face and the sad face I mean just believe it and you'll be a lot happier.
Thing's will start, you'll start getting money, people start to believe you, you
know, really, seriously, it comes, it'll happen. Just try it, you know, just be totally
honest and and [unclear - follow this?] you'll get the results. Say {tow chawa}
[repeat] {tow chawa} [repeat] [Tow chawa] means "gets bigger." [writing on
board] I always tell the story, and I apologize to the older students who already
heard it twenty times. I I live in a Mongolian temple, in New Jersey. It's
surrounded by these huge oak trees. I mean, they must be a hundred feet high
or something. Very very massive, very heavy and one day there was a big
storm and one of them fell on top of our temple. And it was like, made a hole in
the roof. And so the Mongolians all came to look at it and they said Michael, you
get up there, [laughs]. And I, I was like twenty years old [unclear] and here's the
chain saw and you go up and cut those branches off. You know. And I don't like
heights and I'm not very brave. So I'm up there on the, on this tree, cutting off
the limbs with this this heavy chain saw, its waving around, and and I start
cursing this tree and thinking you know what if when it was an acorn like
twenty, I don't know how long it takes, forty years ago, [unclear]. I I see these
acorns out on the road sometimes, it's asphalt, right? So what it forty years ago
someone had taken that acorn and thrown it out on the asphalt. And it was
sitting in the middle of the asphalt, and it never grew? You know. And it never
got planted and it never had a sprout and it never grew into this huge one
hundred fifty foot tree? I wouldn't be up here. You know. And I get [laughter]
[unclear] my mind, over and over again like that. And then when you think
about, I mean, in the physical world, it's true and you can't deny it, the acorn's
weight is what, I don't know, the weight of an acorn is maybe, I don't know, a
few grams, I don' know, it's like, I don't know how many grams, ten grams or
something, You know. An ounce. And then the weight of that tree is what?
[Student: a ton] At least a ton, or two tons, I don't know what it is. Huge. Did
one create the other? I mean, the seed, the acorn was the seed for the for the
ton. The ounce was the seed for the ton. I mean, the nature of causes, the nature
of seeds, in the physical world - you were made from the one cell of your father
and the one cell of your mother. I mean, this forty, fifty, sixty years of cells
running around New York was [laughter] was made by by just one cell of your
mother and one cell of your father. Infinitely small. No weight at all. And and
the physical world is like that, you can see that, you understand that. I mean
things like the United States of America start with two people having a
discussion one day, over a table somewhere, you know, and then it becomes this
thing. And and the same thing happens with with with karma, I mean you have
the slightest thought now, and it becomes a a huge entity later. That's the nature
of karma. It's the nature of ideas. You know, a single idea becomes this huge
motivating force throughout the world for millions and millions of people, you
know, one person has one idea [unclear - gives?] to somebody and then
eventually it's this huge idea throughout the world. Or or you yourself as
you're, you know, you're ten years old you have one inkling of a bad habit and
it, by the time you're thirty it's like controlling your whole life. You know, I
mean, this starts very very tiny, mental things and physical things are the same.
So [unclear - the other?] principle of karma is the slightest, slightest good deed or
bad deed becomes huge, the results are huge. You can think of like one gene,
there was a woman in this class whose not here tonight, because she's pregnant
and and her and her baby is missing a gene, you know, a branch of a gene or
something, you know, so so like they decided that this child might have some
horrible disease or be mutated etcetera, because they're missing, they're just
missing a little, one of thirteen genes, or something, you know, one little branch
fell off of a [unclear (star?)] you know and that's [unclear] karma is. Karma is
extremely volatile. Karma is extremely dangerous. The smallest tiny thought in
your mind, one of those sixty-four instants, can become a huge result in the
future. That's one of the principles of karma. Yes [Student: I've always
wondered because in the physical world things also decay and get small and they
never talk about that in karma.] We're gettin there, we're gettin there. If if I
don't cover it by the next one, [inaudible] [writing on board] By the way
[unclear] don't feel bad. [laughs] I, I, apparently. She went, she had a big scare
and it didn't, [writing on board] it came back, or something like that, [laughter]
seriously, I mean, I mean, they figured out it was a bad sample [inaudible]
[Student: what's the English for {pel fulla}?] Get's bigger. I mean infinitely
bigger. Like the acorn and the tree. Say {ma chepa } [repeat] {dan} [repeat] {ma
chepa} repeat{ma chepa } [repeat] {dan} [repeat] {ma chepa} repeat. [writing on
board] Say {ma chepa dan} [repeat] {ma chepa} [repeat] {ma chepa dan} [repeat]
{ma chepa} [repeat]. "If you don't do a karma, you'll never get any results from
it." If you throw the acorn out on the asphalt, you don't have to go up with a
chain saw. [laughs] Really. Seriously. Very simple. If you don't, if you can
avoid a bad deed you'll never get the result, just won't get it. Okay? [Student:
What if you do nothing to prevent suffering?] Excuse me? [Student: What if you
did nothing to prevent suffering?] That's like the first specific cause of being
born as a {praeta}. Right? [laughs] All right, ahh, [writing on board] Say
{choepa} [repeat] {chu} [repeat] {netsha} [repeat] {choepa} [repeat] {chu} [repeat]
{netsha} [repeat]. [writing on board] If you do it, it never just goes away. How
is karma planted in your minds? I mean, karma doesn't stay out near Pluto or
those other [unclear [big?]] planets and then come back to us. It stays very
intimately with you. It's planted in your mind stream, and it can go on for for
thousands of years in your mind state. We talked about it in the course on
karma. That the process is that it replicates itself. It is destroyed by the instant
like all changing things, like our body, or this house, or New York City, it's it's it's
changing from instant to instant but the energy is being transferred to the next
instant. So it doesn't just go away. That seed stays in your mind. The fact that
it's destroyed by the instant doesn't mean that it doesn't continue, it does
continue. And it stays in your mind. It stays in your mind until the day it gives a
result. So, so just to put it briefly, it's like, you see somebody needs something
really bad, like a friend of yours really needs something that you have. And it
and there's nothing that would prevent you from giving it except that you're just
too stingy. You know, they need it, you have it, it's not like it's your last one,
you know, you're just lazy or you're stingy. And, and you perceive yourself not
giving it to them, and you're aware of your own stinginess, like you have some,
you have an intention, and you, and you think about it and you decide not to
give this thing to them because you wanna have more. You know, you wanna
you don't wanna see your own bank account go down. So you, you don't give it
to them. But the whole process of being aware of yourself as you don't give it
and as you think about protecting your own [inaudible] very horrible, I mean
the way this planet is, it's just this far, we don't notice it. You know you notice
the really bad deeds because they disturb your heart. But these are things that
like just slip on day by day you keep doing them you're not even aware of
collecting the karma. You just didn't give it to them when they needed it. And
that being aware of yourself at that moment is what plants it, it plants it in your
mind stream and then later it it flowers in your mind stream. How it flowers we
talked about a lot. But basically it flowers as a perception that you don't have
enough money. You know, it it comes out as a perception that you yourself
don't have it enough of what you need. And, and in extreme form, it it it
manifests itself as perceiving yourself as some kind of being who can't even get
anything to eat or drink. You know, and and in and in extreme forms because
karma gets more violent, you know, karma's like this virulent germ that starts
off a little tiny thing and then eventually it it ruins you. And and then you you
actually have a an awareness of of being this kind of being that can't even get
anything to drink or eat. And and then on top of that you have some kind of a
you have the secondary result of making you want more than you can ever get.
So you have this craving for more and more on the one hand, and then on the
other hand you can never satisfy it. You know, you you feel this extraordinary
kind of desire for something that you [inaudible], then on the other hand, you,
because of your own mind, and your own perceptions, you can't find it. And
and then you have this horrible kind of creature,
 called a {praeta}, and and they have these conflicting energies going on, on one
side they want more and more and more [unclear - to eat?], they're more and
more hungry and dissatisfied, and then on the other side, everywhere they go
they can't find anything. And it, and it's just an extreme flowering of this
perception that you planted long ago, when you didn't give somebody
something they needed. And, and what I'm trying to say is, I'm trying to show
you how the process works. It's not like this guilt trip, that there's a guy up there
with this long scroll keeping track of your bad deeds. By perceiving yourself do
something wrong regarding giving, you will have to perceive yourself be that
kind of being. Period. And it's a psychological event, it's not a, it's not some sort
of, you know, how does karma, were does it stay, how does it work? That's
how it works. It works in your own mind. And when, and when the time
comes, you will be this kind of being who's overwhelmed with desire, needs
something, and can't find anything. And then then just spend it's life like that, in
this horrible, this horrible feeling, wanting, wanting, wanting, and not being able
to get anything. And they spend their whole life, they say that they run around.
They just race from here to there looking for things and they can never find
them. It's it's like these it's like this, I don't know how to say it, it's like this
horrible result which is a million times heavier than the cause that caused it. And
it's always perceptions. And and that's why it can happen, to us. That's that's
why. And a, and a process of dying is the point at which, it's called {chupa seepa}
it's the tenth [unclear - "blink" ? link?] of the wheel of life, that that that process of
dying and passing over that threshold makes those karmas more powerful and
then they they come back to you as a birth. And and then you perceive yourself
as this kind of being that can't get what it wants, it's crave all the time and
running back and forth and never satisfied. That's how it works. Is it so, I don't
know if you get some more feeling that it could happen to you. You know, it
could happen to you if you can, perceive yourself doing one of those three
specific causes. Then you will perceive yourself being that kind of being. It,
that's why it's possible. It's not that, you know, you kind of grow into this
gremlin, your arms fall off, and suddenly you become a tiny little gremlin, it's
that your perceptions change. And they will, they can. Three quick questions,
then we'll take a break. You were first I think. [Student: If I'm a very sick
person, I think of myself as generous, say I'm in denial] Right [Laughter] [vs. I
am stingy and I know I'm stingy] yeah [does this make this, does this make a
difference or not?] It does, it makes a big difference, it's the intention. Take the
example that you can quote, said the [b:Abhidharmakosha] fourth chapter,
where someone perceives that it, that their their father or mother is is has cancer
or something and is dy..., is is having this horrible time, you know, has terminal
cancer, and out of, out of mercy, out of thoughts of mercy, they killed them,
okay? It's a terrible bad deed, I mean, it's a really wrong deed, and you'll get a
horrible result from it. But the motivation, the intention is good. It's like a
[unclear] or something. So [unclear - usually?] the karmic result of that would be
a mixture. The karmic result of the intention is some kind of incredible good
result. The karmic result of the deed is some kind of incredibly bad result.
[Student: Okay, you did everything intentionally. I mean, they you you] Oh, oh,
you can be the person, [laughs] but the intention is to help them. Your intention,
what defines a good intention, if you wish to help someone. That's a good
intention. [ Student: well, [unclear] help] That's what I'm saying, it's that, it's what
we call a mixed white and black karmic deed. It's called {karnauf du jepa} mixed
white and black. But you've gotta study karma - it's a long subject. We do a
whole, couple of months on it, you know. [Student: An example you just said
[unclear] brought it on yourself [unclear] Yeah. it almost sounds to me like, so
it's karmically better to not even be aware that I'm angry because then] Laughs [I
don't see myself being angry so ] [unclear] perceive, it's just, ah, you do perceive
yourself being angry you're not aware that you're perceiving yourself [unclear.]
I mean, that this it is a bad deed to be angry, whether you, even if, I mean, they
take the example in the, in the, [b:Abhidharma] [unclear] of a crazy person. I
mean, is insanity a good defense in Buddhism? Yes. You don't know what
you're doing. Is it still a bad deed? Yes. You know. There's a lot less than if you
were fully aware of what you were doing is wrong. You know. But they say
that's why Rimpoche hasn't taught us a lot of the other the higher vows.
[Laughter] [unclear] 'cause you would break them. [Student: Yeah, in order to
be a good karma so ] [end of side one]

[Student: Yeah, In order to be in good karma's spirit do you, is this a one time
deal?] I don't, I don't like how you started the question. In order to perceive
yourself through karma's spirit, which is what happens. [Student: OK] That's
why it's possible. That's why it's totally plausible that this could happen to you.
[Student: and is this a one time thing you could, you have to [unclear - happy to
be engaged in?] or is it more or less continual behavior behavioral pattern, in
other words is it] Yeah [a continual thing ] the, the whole first chapter of the
[b:Abhidharma] deal with this question. You know. Is it multiple karmas that
leads to one rebirth, or could one karma lead to multiple rebirths? And the
answer is both. [Laughs] There are cases, when you do something minor,
continually, for example, it would make you be born as an animal. But one very
powerful action of of, you know, someone's dying for a dollar, and you don't
give it to them, well then, then you could take multiple births as a {praeta}. Take
a break [laughs] have some iced tea and some other stuff. There's some tea
downstairs and then come back in like ten minutes.

The first one is {gom - gong? - gone?}. [writing on board] Say {chi} repeat
{dimpochen} repeat {chi} repeat {dimpochen} repeat {Chi} means "outside." "On
the outside." {Dimpochen} means "obstacle." "Having an obstacle." So the first
kind of {praeta} is the kind that has obstacles on the outside. Outside obstacles.
What that means is that, that being is perceiving themselves as extremely
hungry and thirsty. And that being has, on top of that, an added desire, I mean
this incredible craving for for something to drink. And they can't find anything.
And then they see from a distance, they see this beautiful lake, you know, from a
distance and they're always running, I mean they spend their whole life running,
and they see this lake of beautiful water and they run, you know, they put their
head down and they run. And then they get up to the side of the lake and they
look down and its its turned into blood, and puss and and excrement, I mean, its
just turned into something horrible. And that's the story of their lives. And then
they these these kind of {praetas} they have some kind of karma. Again the
whole thing is just your mind shifting. Your mind has has not given the things
to other people need so your mind shifts and as you approach that water, its its
something else by the time you get up to it. It turns into something else. Is the
water turning into something else? [Student: unclear] What's happening?
[Student: Your mind is moving} Your mind is shifting. Your mind is shifting. By
the way, every change in the world, from the movement of my hand, to the sun
coming up, which we study in the Diamond Sutra, it's all just a shift in your
perceptions. So, I'm not moving my hand, okay, your mind is shifting. [laughs]
But that explains how being can walk up to some water and suddenly they look
down and it's just blood. They can't drink it anymore, it's just puss. [unclear]
something disgusting. It's a shifting of their mind. Yeah [Student: So it's not
necessarily the physical, like you said, the electric quartz [ corpse? - unclear] that
can have subtle physical form? that could mean that they are a certain group
subtle physical realm for us. ] We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it. We'll get
there. It'll come. So those are those are the first kind of {praetas}. The next one
is called {Maggi netta pe} [writing on board] Yeah. [Student: Would you say
then a a {praeta} has a a perception from afar, which is pleasing or somehow
appealing to them?] Yeah, that's, appears to be a good karma, that's a result of a
good karma. That they don't see this blood in the first place. You know. Say
{maggi} repeat {dimpochen} repeat {maggi} repeat {dimpochen} repeat. The
only difference here is {"naggi"}. {Maggi} means "on the inside." So instead of
having obstacles on the outside, they have obstacles on the inside. And this is
this, this is this thing where their where their mouth is is very small. They say as
small as the hole on a needle. And that their intestines are very thin and they, I
mean their gullet, their throat, and they say the size of guitar strings. And then
their bellies are huge. So even if they could get something to eat or drink, they
can't stuff it down fast enough to ever be satisfied. Even I'm, you see pictures of
the little guy and you say, "that's cute, that looks like the gremlin movie I saw."
Or something like that and you just think its its some kind of folk tradition in
Tibet that these beings must have existed. It's not like that. It's the natural
perception that a being would have if they spent this life being unsatisfiable. It's
it's the natural karmic evolution, explosive growth of of of a of constant feelings
of possessiveness in this life. Okay. And it's possible, because again it's a
perception. Is it therefore not real? No way. It's totally real, because it's a
perception. We'll talk about that, sometime. It's as real as anything in this world.
[writing on board] [Student: So, are those beings actually able to consume things
through that [unclear]] That's number three. [Student: [unclear] number two
consuming?] Nope. I mean they can try. But they say that their their mouths
are are flaming with fire. And if somehow they get a little bit down there's this
karma that they're never satisfied. Doesn't matter how much they try to stuff in.
They have this karma that they're never sat, they never find any happiness. You
see human beings who have a touch of that. You know. I mean, most of us.
You know. No matter how much you get, you still want something bigger or
better or more. I used to be very happy with six dollars an hour in my work]
then it was seven then it was eight then it was fifty and then a hundred, you
know. You're you're never [unclear - filling? finished?]. [writing on board] Say
{sekon gui} repeat {repon chen} repeat {sekon gui} repeat {repon chen} repeat.
Mmmm, {Sekon gui}, {sekon} means "food and drink." "food and drink." {repon
chen} means "having obstacles for food and drink." So in the scripture or in the
{chen rim} of {Geshe Drolumba} it says that these beings, they have a problem
that even if they get some kind of food, like they finally get a glass of water that
doesn't turn into puss or blood, okay, and they drink it but on the way it it just
burns them, they have this feeling of being burned. It's like drinking molten
steel or something. And the minute it starts going down their throat it feels like
acid. It it feels like acid going down their throat. And then I I told you wrong,
it's, and this is the category where where even if it gets down, it never satisfies
them. It's like someone who could eat all day and still feel hungry. [Student: So
what is number two then?] Number two is more like a physical impediment
where their mouths are just too small, and their stomachs are just too big and
they can never fill it up. They they couldn't get physically enough food down to
ever fill it up. And then number three is more like it burns as it goes down. And
then even if it gets down it never satisfies. They still feel hungry and thirsty all
the time. [Student: What is the english description for this being?] These are all
{praetas}. [Student: No, I mean the third being.] Those, it's it's, the wording is,
"those with obstacles to food and drink." Meaning there's there's a a bad
reaction to the food and drink that they can get. So I guess the third category is
lucky that they can get something but it it either hurts them or it doesn't satisfy
them. The first two kinds can never get anything anyway or can't get enough.
[Student: So why don't they die? I mean they [unclear] never get anything to eat
or drink.] That's like in the hells. He say's why don't they die if they don't get
enough. It's your karma. There's a hell called revive. {yung tse} it's called {yung
tse} and and in that hell, you're born there, and somebody just stands there and
beats you with a club until you die. And then and then there's this there's this
sound from the sky called {yung tse} and you get back up and they beat the crap
out of you again and you die. And then, and then this sound comes out of the
sky the sky [yung tse} you get back up, you just revive. You know. You just
keep coming back to life. It's like a zombie or something. And and it's your
karma to keep to keep living. They say that the life span of these beings is, they
say that a day, in a day in their lives passes in the time of a month on this, in our
world. And that's typical. In the in the lower realms time passes more slowly.
So like a day in the lower, a day in the in the life of a {praeta} is like a month for a
human being. And they say that these these beings, I believe that, you can check
the reading, but I believe it's five hundred days is the maximum life of a of a
{praeta}, according to the [b:Chem rim]. [Student: Five hundred days?] Yeah,
but their days. Yeah. It's times thirty, okay, I don't know what that is. Fifteen
thousand days. [Student: unclear] Then they die again. So they, then they die.
So that's the longest their lifespan is. How big are they, they say it's not fixed.
Their bodies are not fixed. Where they live, there's two main places. One is
supposed to be below this planet, below the earth, and so many miles away
from our from where we live, and then another and there's a certain category of
{praeta} that's living among us and we can't see them. And the scriptures say
that at night maybe you can sometimes catch a glimpse of them, or something.
You know, but that's there are {ydaks} there are {praetas} according to scripture
running around around us and we can't see them. That's why sometimes when
you do a {puja} or an offering you put something out for them. And then they,
if you do the right kind of prayer, they can actually partake of it. Something like
that. So don't think it's some kind of, you know, this chapter is very unpopular, I
mean, if if you're one of those lamas who came and gave a two day teaching in
New York City, you wouldn't want to cover this. [Laughter] It's not very sexy,
you know, it's not a good as like a [unclear] karma or something [laughter]. I
shouldn't say that, it's probably just broke a Bodhisattva vow. Anyway, it's very,
before [unclear] because it's a mental perception, it's it's very possible that it
could happen. That's, I just want to say it's very plausible that it could happen.
It's just the natural growth of a feeling of possessiveness that this life, that starts
out the size of an acorn, could, if it had a genetic flaw, grow into some huge
grotesque oak tree [unclear] a hundred years from now. If the mind is, if the
mind is eternal, which it is, you know, if the mind will go on forever, which it
does, and we can prove that, then if you
 plant a tiny defective seed in it in 1996 then it makes good, it's possible that in
2030 even if you're not in this life or you are, it's going to come out some
horrible result. It's very possible. That result won't be some little gremlin body
that someone shoves you into that. It will be a perception of that seed flowering
in your own mind and you look down and you have that body. And those
things are happening to you, and it will happen.            And that, you know,
supposedly if you really understand all this you don't want to collect those
karmas any more, you just absolutely don't want to be stingy anymore you
don't want to be jealous anymore. You know. If you get very good at this,
you'll feel seeds being planted in your mind as you do bad deeds at the office.
Okay. You will be, you will actually sense, you'll get the sensation of planting a
bad seed in your mind and being sorry about it because once they're in there, it's
very hard to get them out. Like, so you'll if you get good at your practice, you'll
have the sensation of a seed being planted in your mind then realizing that you
can't go back five minutes and take it back. It's already planted in your
mindstream. It's a very nasty thing. You've got to be very careful about
collecting bad karma. Yeah. [Student: How do these beings acquire the karma
[inaudible]] Ah, extremely unlikely. [Student: What was the question?] She
wanted to know: how they ever come back up. You know, cause in that life
they're not being generous either. I mean, they're just being worse. You know.
Like birds. Somebody says, "well, okay, to be an animal, if you're, if you're born
as an animal, when do you get to come back up to the human realm. And it's
just like dumb luck. Because an animal's life is spent in non-virtue. I mean,
animals whole focus is to hurt other animals. You know, their whole life is spent
in the activity of trying to destroy other animals which provide them food. So
you know then people say, "oh Buddhism is very cruel, you know, at least in
Christianity the birds are just ignorant so, you know, they can, they can still have
a, their soul will still go to a nice place because they were just stupid." And and
Buddhism says: no, I mean ignorance is is no it's no excuse you know it's it's
exactly the kind of condition you never want to go through because you'll just
get you'll get worse, things'll get worse. If you're born an animal and you spend
your life seeking other animals to kill for your food, then then the future's really
lousy for you and and only by some incredibly dumb luck will you ever get up
to the human realm. [Student: Good luck?] Well, good deed. [Student laughs]
But, you know, almost like like some kind of accident that you you undergo
some kind of incredible suffering that wears out your bad karmas. You have
some tiny little seed for good karma left and you could you go into a human
realm. But they say that, that the beings going down, the Buddha taught this, he
said the beings going down, he took a, he took a piece of dust and he and he
showed it like this he said the beings going up are like this dust, this this mote of
dust, and the beings going down are like the pieces of dust in a planet. You
know, and he, he said that. It's in the sutras, you know. [Student: How do you
classify something like a zombie. Is that a bardo being?] What's that? [Student:
A zombie] [Laughs] I never met one. [Laughter] All right, hold on. I think
they would be a {yuba}. [Student: A {jita?} Yeah, a {praeta}. [Student: What is
that?] It's like a, there's some kind of beings that like, like corpses that get back
up and walk around. Supposed to be. There's a big debate about it. They say
{Nagarjuna} wrote that book and then other people say he never wrote it. Like
that. So. I think that covers {Yddaks}. Let me see. There's thirty-six types in the
in the scriptures and they're in they're in your reading, okay? {Drolumba}
missed one and I stuck it in from another book. [unclear] The beauties of the
computer. We'll do a very quick on animals, then we'll stop. Animals don't take
so much explanation because you can see them. The cause is, general cause,
[writing on board] gimme any one of those ten bad deeds to to sort of a wimpy
extent. All right? You did something like you like say you you killed an insect
by accident or something like that or you or you lied but not with very strong
intention not with very important object not about something pretty important
and those are those would lead to an animal rebirth. They get {Drolumba, the
Ten Rim} and other scriptures give two specific reasons. [writing on board] I ge
- I don't quite like the word "rules" but I don't know how else to put it but it's like
if you constantly break small small things that are not very not very serious but
if you do it over and over again, you know, like you tell little white lies over and
over again then it would be a cause like that. [Student: So the rules of conduct - ]
Yeah or the rules of what, what you should do and what you shouldn't do but
"should" is a bad word. "Should" just means if you do it you're going to end up
like that. It's very interesting. Buddhist morality is pretty much, bad karma is
defined as something that causes you to suffer. Bad karma is defined as
something that brings you a result of suffering. And secondly, [writing on
board] [Student: Are these subsets of the ten bad deeds?] These are two specific
ones, these are the two specific causes and this is one general cause. So so the
{ten rim} by the way, {Geshe Drolumba} was a big master of the defects of
wisdom because his teacher, {Limpe Seraph} was one of the great translators in
Tibet he translated many many of the great books of the perfection of wisdom
so he he himself although we don't know much about him we know he he must
have been affected by his teacher's thinking and and this is all based on a
perfection of wisdom so these are the two specific specific causes for animal
rebirth. Then he goes into the suffering. The suffering, it's interesting, because
you and I tend to think of animals as something kinda cute you know like we
have this dog in our temple who's very cute {doma} and we have this chicken,
this rooster that walks outside he looks really cute and he does funny things and
then you think of, what's that movie with the kid and the dolphin, Help Willie, or
something like that, you know, and you think of little rabbits and deer walking
through the woods and you know and {Geshe Drolumba} says the same thing
it's very interesting. At the end of his presentation on animals he says, "What,
well you think these peop - these animals are having a good time? You know,
do you think they're they're just having some very romantic walk through the
through the nice meadow and stopping to eat grass here and there or the or the
bunny is is is like communing with nature and somehow you know in the in the
great harmony of living things. He says forget it! He says being an animal is is a
a lifetime of terror. And and you're constantly, why do animals run away when
you approach them anyway? [laughs] I mean, why do birds fly away when you
come near them? They're whole existence is based on watching over their
shoulder for the animal that eats them. That's their their whole fixation in life.
They're they're consumed with the task, twenty-four hours a day of avoiding the
animal that eats them. And and they're just constantly on the run, constantly
having to be alert and watchful and the minute they're not, then they get eaten
by the by the animal on the food chain behind them. And and that's how they
spend their lives don't think animals are these happy little creatures you know
it's a it's a dog eat dog existence and and they're just they're it's it's an existence of
sheer terror from the moment they're born to the moment they die. And and
they're just living like that. The general mass of animals are like that. Then
there's this sub category of animals that are that are you know have the honor of
being used by man, you know, and they have this special torture that humans
are just they they are the property of humans. So humans are raising them for
food to slaughter them the humans are trying to hunt them down to take their
skins off and or the humans are putting saddles on them and beating them] and
putting iron in their mouths and and riding them and and making them pull
plows and then killing them when they get too old and and so they there's this
specific subclass of animals that that have this added torture of being the
property of human beings. So he says you know in general it's it's a just sheer
terror to be an animal and then more specifically the one's that meet up with
human beings get these special sufferings this special tortures of being the
property of the human beings. Yeah. [Student: I thought about that and I'm
wondering what those scriptures say about those that that don't some [unclear]
have natural enemies like polar bears that don't get eaten by anybody else]
Yeah. [or ] Except humans. [Student: well okay and and also bugs like I can't
imagine [each?] tiny bug [unclear] having terror I mean [I do like?] terror?] I
don't know I I watch them get chased by a butterfly or a [unclear] bird right?
[Student: right] [Student: o yeah] I mean, okay, the scripture, the [b:chenrin
chemmo] in the verse you're gonna to read there it says they all have their
different personalities. He says, he admits some of them are friendly, some of
them are cruel, some of them are get along with each other, some of them I
mean there are animals that have group instincts and they live in communities
like like ants and they seem to get along with each other. This I mean speaking
generally ninety-nine percent are engaged in the act
 of watching out they don't get killed today. You know. And then maybe there's
a one percent that somehow has a little a window of comfort you know but on
the whole it's it's it's a realm that we don't recognize the terror of being an
animal, we don't recognize the true nature of animals being the hunted and and
spending their whole lives watching for the thing behind them that's going to
kill them you know that's the scriptures talk about animals like that. The the
scriptures says there's three hundred sixty million species of animals and they
say on the human body alone, there are eighty thousand different species living.
[laughs] [laughter] [Student: They said that then? before microscopes found
them?]      They said eighty thousand different species are inhabiting the body,
inside or on the body. [Student: unclear] Yeah. Yeah. [Intruder: Ah, wrong
side.] They [unclear - meet in?] in two places. We're almost finished okay?
[Writing on board] If you're gonna be a translator, this is a nasty word, okay? I
mean it's hard, it's very rare. Say {chingna} repeat {nyepa} repeat {chingna}
repeat [nyepa} repeat. This means "living in the ocean" okay, living in the warm
waters of the ocean like the midst of the ocean. And what it means is that by in
terms of population, the vast number of animals live in the ocean, okay?
According to Buddhist scripture. If you count all the plankton and everything
else, you know, little life forms that are living off of the salt water, that's where
the vast majority of animals are living. [writing on board] [Student: There was
just an article in the Times about a month ago that scientists estimate that ninety
percent of the earth's population live in the middle zone of the earth's ocean.]
Yeah? [Student: Not not not the bottom, but not the top but in the middle zone.]
Yeah, yeah, this means "in the middle." Say {katola} repeat {katola} repeat.
{Katola} means spread out all over the place, in the sky, in the water, on the
land, under the dirt. I mean, {praetas} have their own little place, somewhere.
Half of them, say. And you know, hell-beings have very specific place where
they live. But this section of animals are just spread out all over the all over the
planet. They don't have a, you can't say well this is where the animal realm is.
It's it's spread out all over the planet. [Student: In other realms [unclear -do
animals exist?]] Not the former formless realms. Only {unclear - thoughts?} only
{unclear - devas?]. Yes. [Student: I was just curious [unclear]] Oh just the word.
You never never never ever see this word used anywhere else. It's a very
specific word that means "the middle of the, the depths of the sea." "The depths
of the sea." That means if you try to find it in a dictionary or something you'll
never, it just happens like one word in a million, you'll never find it. So there's
arguments about what it means. But the scriptures are pretty clear. Yeah.
(Student: [unclear] Yeah, in our in our world. Some believe. [Student: Will these
six realms [unclear]] Yeah it's a very good question and I used to wonder. Yeah,
apparently it's like a model that occurs, you know, every planet that has life has
these six realms. That seem, I used to wonder that and and then sometimes you
come across a scripture of plural (?) you know like every every world has this
same basic structure. Every planet that has life has the same basic structure. You
know. Seems to be like that. Because they explain galaxies then they explain
universes and then they explain macro universes, in the b:Abhidharma], third
chapter, towards the end [unclear]. And you know those are groups of millions
of planets, inhabited planets and they all seem to be have the same structure. If
they have life they have the same structure which is basically means that the
possible, what do you call it, variations of karma are are limited. You know, the
possible [Student: Permutations] permutations, there's only so many
permutations of karma. You know. At the end of the animal section he says
that actually maybe the the number of species is limitless because different kinds
of karma are [unclear] I don't know. But I think the important thing is, you
know, people read the [b:Abhidharma] and they say, "O this is just some weird
idea about how the world is." You know. But but but the point is this: the point
of this whole class the point of this whole course is to realize that if the teachings
on emptiness are true, if, if the teachings on emptiness are true, and if life is only
a projection, then it's only plausible that we could become any of these things the
minute we pass over that threshold. That within within twenty minutes from
the moment we speak one of us could be one of those things. You know.
Because it's a change in your perceptions and it's not a, you know, it's not like
you have to go pull on a new body like a sock. It's it's that you will see yourself
that way, the same way you see yourself now, with the same validity that you
see yourself now. And it's totally possible because it just depends on what kind
of states are in your mind. So the whole point is to try to avoid those things
(states?). This is a death repetition, we already started it before we got to it.
That's all. We'll do a short prayer. Oh I have to make a short announcement.
On Sunday, March 17th, I'll repeat this, {Khen Rinpoche} who is our root Lama,
very great Lama, who rarely teaches, he's going to teach out in New Jersey, two
o-clock, it's a Sunday, and he'll continue to teach most Sundays. Starting on the
17th of March. If you don't know how to get there, ask ask ask either [Mona?]
or some [Dharmas] or a lot of people have been there. It's a very great teaching
he's gonna teach from the {Kadampas} like very early Buddhist [unclear] he's
going to teach a text from that. On the 30th, which I think is a Saturday? he's
just announced that he will be giving some layman's vows, and some other
things, some other neat things, so if you wanna get in on that, let me know.
[Student: [unclear]] Well, we'll cancel that. [Laughter] That's at two o'clock. I
think we better cancel it. [Students: [unclear]] Again, he's gonna on the first of
June, there'll be a general {sagwa} ceremony. Bodhisattva vows and tantric
vows. You have to memorize the text. I have the text up here and somebody
has been [unclear] a tape, a tape recording, and I have copies of the tape. And if
anybody would like a copy of the tape let me know. I'll give you a copy, it
makes it easier to memorize it. That's about it. [Student: The bodhisattva vows,
did you, are you allowed to do that and yet [unclear] the vows?] No. Can't. Not
allowed. [Student: Is there a class this week?] No. No class this Thursday. Next
class is next Monday. Cause a, we have a ceremony here this Sunday. Okay.
[Chanting: mandel and ngowa] Two volunteers to clean up. Would you do that
stuff? Yeah. Jay? Would you do that too? Okay. Jay and [unclear]. Next time
bring some snacks, okay? [laughs] [miscellaneous talk & laughter as the group
breaks up]




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Course VIII: Death and the Realms of Existence